Need some suggestions

vhcoleman09

Ladies, I need your help. I picked my MIL as the person I buy a Christmas gift for in DH's family this year. We have a $75 spending limit, and I am at a complete loss for what to get her. She's a 4th grade teacher, very sentimental, and loves family. Last year, my SIL gave her a necklace with 3 charms (pictures of all the siblings with their spouses at their respective weddings...obviously the one with DH and I was gifted later in the year), and she LOVED it. That type of thing is good but I feel like now it's already been done. Any advice?

Leigha12

How about a nice digital picture frame she can take to work loaded with pictures of all her kids and their familes? 

ETA: Or one of those family-themed collage frames. DH and I put one together for my mom's birthday and she cried (in a good way) and my dad said he wanted one, too (hers featured pics of her with each of her kids at their weddings).  We used an inexpensive frame due to financial constraints, but Kohls has some amazing ones that have sayings on them and are kinda pricey (like in your limit area).

RedZee

Does she have other grandchildren? You can get her Chicken Soup for the Grandmother's soul and some other grandmother-related things so that she's "prepared".

 You could also just go with something she'll be able to use a lot and then make the card really sentimental.

Is there a current tradition or one you'd like to start with her and her grandchildren? (For example, I had a friend who spent every New Year's at a grandparents-cousins sleepover when he was little. They'd do puzzles and stuff. So in that case I'd get New Year's hats and a couple of puzzles.)

keb270

Last year my sister did a family tree for her MIL and she cried when she got it. It was really pretty and a nice sentimental gift. It was cut out tree with leaves on the branches that had the names of the family members. I will try to find a picture since I can't describe it that well

just dandy.

I love Keb's idea.  I bet you could find something really nice through Etsy.

Kellybeth124

keb270:

Last year my sister did a family tree for her MIL and she cried when she got it. It was really pretty and a nice sentimental gift. It was cut out tree with leaves on the branches that had the names of the family members. I will try to find a picture since I can't describe it that well

I made a family tree/history/photo album using My Publisher for FIL last Christmas and he cried too (he's a total sap though). The rest of the family requested them so I ended up ordering 3 more for DH's aunts. I will say that it was time intensive since I included as much family history as possible and I went back about 250 years but it was a pretty awesome gift. 

vhcoleman09

Thanks! I really like the family tree idea. She's not a grandmother yet, but I may also do a small grandmother-related gift. Both SIL and I are pregnant and she's 10 days behind me, so I think a grandmother gift would be good too.

keb270

Another idea along the same lines, I am making an album of photos from our wedding for my MIL and mom for their gifts. They both love to show off photos so I thought this would be a nice way for them to do it.

just dandy.

Just an idea for the next gift after the babies are born, and you know for absolute sure what month their birthdays will be, we got something for my mom that she loved - it was a ring that had each of her grandchildren's birthstones on it. She's got 8 grandkids, so it was a pretty array of birthstones, but you might be able to do something similar.  It sounds like your MIL and my mom are a lot alike in their gift preferences. Also, I think that with the ring we got, you could add stones if necessary.  

luckycooky

Along the lines of Keb's idea - I used to work at an awards/engraving shop and we did these quite a bit.  It was an engraved plate that was mounted on a plaque and by each name was a small birthstone.  They looked beautiful and as long as they came back to our shop, we kept the digital file saved so they could add to it as the family grew.  I think it was somewhere within your price range.

vhcoleman09

I'm wishing we had held off on giving her the wedding photo album. That would've been a good gift, but I like the ring idea too. I saw some of these on redenvelope.com when I was browsing there but thought it was too similar to the necklace that SIL got her last year. But with grandkids' birthstones it's different than her own kids' birthstones. Will keep this in mind for a future gift.

Junebug060609

just dandy.:

Just an idea for the next gift after the babies are born, and you know for absolute sure what month their birthdays will be, we got something for my mom that she loved - it was a ring that had each of her grandchildren's birthstones on it. She's got 8 grandkids, so it was a pretty array of birthstones, but you might be able to do something similar.  It sounds like your MIL and my mom are a lot alike in their gift preferences. Also, I think that with the ring we got, you could add stones if necessary.  

You could do it as a necklace or charm bracelet.  That way if more grandkids come later she won't have to get the setting redone.